


Not All Locks Are Iron

by QuestionableCorrosion



Category: End Roll (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Missing Scene, Repressed Memories, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-27
Updated: 2016-09-27
Packaged: 2018-08-18 04:44:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8149477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuestionableCorrosion/pseuds/QuestionableCorrosion
Summary: Cody gets a late night visit from her brother, and asks a question neither of them can answer.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Guess that wasn't all she wrote. Whoops.

Cody raised the bundle of herbs to her eye level and scrutinised it carefully. It didn't really make much of a difference whether the stems were the same length or not, but with such pretty plants, with their small, purple flowers and slender leaves, she liked to have them look as elegant as possible. Might as well use them as additional decoration while they hung on her wall to dry.

Gingerly, she took a small knife she had left on the table and evened the stems out. Her shoulders relaxed. This wasn't like cooking, where her nervousness took hold and lead her to disaster — this was something she was actually good at, and felt good doing. Besides, with such an easy and mundane task to occupy her, she had time to just be, without having to dwell on the thoughts that had plagued her since that morning. If she managed to fill her head with work, she might even get a good night's sleep in before having to really think about—

Quickly, she set the knife aside and reached out for a piece of ribbon she had cut out earlier. Purple to match the flowers, though not quite the same shade. Neither would go well with the colour of her walls, she realised then, but it didn't concern her too much. A small dab of purple among the pink and red and orange would probably make her shop look livelier, anyway.

She tied the ribbon neatly around the stems of the herbs. Satisfied with her handiwork, she scanned the walls for a suitable place to hang the bundle. Between the Belladon Greens, maybe? They probably wouldn't clash _too_ much.

Just as she stood up to walk to the wall, the front door behind her slammed open. Her body gave a jolt, and without thinking, she spun around ready to set the intruder on fire, brandishing the bundle of herbs like a weapon.

Just as quickly, she lowered her hand and glared. "Brother! You should've knocked!"

"And you should have locked your door." Dogma's scowl matched her own as he stepped inside. "It's irresponsible at the best of times, and now, with the monster around..."

"I know." She was just as concerned of the creature creeping in the night as the next person. "I was going to close shop as soon as night fell."

Dogma's scowl deepened. "It's past midnight."

"I lost track of time." Cody set the herbs on the table, then crossed her arms. "Besides, that doesn't give you the right to barge into a young lady's house unannounced."

"T-that's..." That at least shook Dogma's expression — he was now flustered. "That's a misrepresentation of what I was doing. I was patrolling for the monster, and wished to check up on you to make sure you're safe."

"And that prevented you from knocking?" Cody loved her brother dearly, she really did, but sometimes he could be so abrasive.

"I assumed you had your door locked, and that the rattle of the lock would alert you." Dogma's eyes flashed. "Speaking of which, when I came to visit the other day, you had left your door ajar even though you were nowhere in sight. That kind of recklessness is dangerous!"

"R-right." Cody's cheeks reddened. He had a point: she had forgotten her door open not long ago. "I'm going to make sure it's locked from now on, okay? I don't want to be the only one who doesn't do it."

"Precisely." Dogma wore what Cody knew from experience was his equivalent of a placated smile. It didn't last for long. "I sometimes worry that the appearance of your house might attract the monster to it."

"What?" Cody couldn't help but smile. "You think the monster's hungry for cake?"

"It's not beyond the realm of possibility." With anyone else, it would've been a joke, but with Dogma few things were.

"Well..." She still thought it funny, but it was difficult to stay amused in the face of such intense seriousness. "I can't really help that." She summoned her smile back. "It'll be fine. Have you ever heard of a monster who likes cake?" Her mind drifted. Hadn't Tabasa spoken of him, Russell, and Gardenia running into a monster that _was_ cake? Not that it seemed too relevant here.

"Y-yes, you're right." Dogma paused with a look of deep concentration. If Cody had to guess, he was trying to think of something else to nag about. His nose wrinkled, and he raised his head with fresh apprehension. "I smell something burning."

Cody stared at her feet. "...That's just my dinner."

"...Oh." After a moment of silence, Dogma cleared his throat. "Practice makes perfect."

"I haven't given up yet." Still, Cody had to admit her most recent forays into the world of cooking hadn't been encouraging. The recipe she had tried earlier had been as simple as can be, something Gardenia would have whipped out in fifteen minutes, and still Cody had been left nothing but black bits of something formerly edible and a supper of fresh vegetables instead. She sighed. "Anyway, I can't offer you food, but if you'd like something to drink, I can manage."

"No, I should return to patrolling. Yumi has kept vigil for three days now... it would be wrong to abandon her after she has asked for our help. I just came to make sure you were safe."

Cody smiled. "You worry too much."

"I'm the eldest. I'm supposed to worry." He turned to leave.

Cody hesitated for several moments. Her earlier thoughts had returned with vengeance, and while she didn't want to confront them, this was the perfect opportunity to do so.

"Dogma, wait."

Dogma stopped with his hand on the door handle and turned his head around. "What is it?"

"It's..." Cody bit her lip. Now that she was determined to speak up, the next big step was figuring out how to talk about it. "Earlier today, when we went to the Dead Tree Hill..."

The air around them froze.

Dogma retracted his hand from the handle. He walked back to Cody with his arms folded and his eyes downcast.

Cody averted her own eyes, gazing at the jars of preserved plants by her walls without really seeing them. "Um...we don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

Dogma sighed. "It's fine. I believe it's something we need to discuss eventually, either way. We may as well do so now." He looked up. His eyes betrayed no emotion. "Is there something in particular you'd like to say?"

"Just the one thing." Unconsciously, Cody's fingers had found their way to the golden cross around her neck. "That woman...while we were fighting, you said you were sure it wasn't Mom...and I believed you." She felt cold sweat on her brow. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Dogma's fingers curled around his cross, too. "I wanted to ask if you still think so."

Dogma remained silent for a long moment, long enough for Cody to feel butterflies in her stomach. When he finally spoke, it was in a very deliberate manner, as if he was carefully selecting every single word. "I'll admit that during the confrontation, I had neither time nor the desire to truly consider who she was. I merely latched onto the most convenient alternative so that I could continue to act. Now, I have had time to deliberate it, and... Cody, please look at me." Cody blinked and returned Dogma's gaze, unaware she had turned away. "I have thought about it very hard, and I'm absolutely certain that woman was not our mother. Our initial judgement was perhaps hasty, but the reasoning behind it is sound. Our mother would never have done to Darcover Town what that _demon_ ," Cody blinked at the sudden harshness of his tone, "masquerading as her did. It was a monster using underhanded tricks to deceive us." His tone softened back to normal, and his expression grew almost gentle. "Its appearance and words were merely an attempt to unsettle us. You can rest at ease."

Cody nodded, but she didn't rest at ease. Not that she thought he was wrong: it had to have been a monster. Mom wouldn't have hurt a fly. Mom would never have attacked them. Mom wouldn't tell them...

Her stomach lurched.

Her mother had appeared in her dreams for two nights in a row, loving and tender and comforting. She would probably appear that night too, but Cody couldn't be sure of the context. More pressingly, those dreams had awakened in her a certain pressing question, and the monster on the hill had only fanned the flames.

"That's fine," she said, her voice quavering despite her best attempt to keep it level. "It was a monster. But if that wasn't her, then..." she found it very difficult to speak, and had to swallow before continuing: "Where is Mom?"

Dogma's face clouded up. "Why do you ask? Our mother is, of course—"

His words died out like they had hit a wall, while the rest of him went as still as a statue. From the dawning panic on his face, Cody figured he had come to the same realisation she had come earlier that day.

Where _was_ Mom, really?

Cody had racked her brain for all her memories, from every year of her childhood as far as she could remember to present time. Everywhere, Mom was a constant presence, always watching over her and Dogma, teaching them, guiding them, supporting them. She remembered Mom in the church, listening quietly to the pipe organ, helping to polish the candlesticks, braiding Cody's hair and smiling.

Shouldn't she have been with them right there and then, too?

There was a sudden jolt of pain behind her eyes, almost like someone had taken a hammer to her brain. She clutched her head to ease her suffering, but to no relief. It was like something was trying to break through into her mind, something jagged and horrible that would smash her into pieces. Something she already knew, but couldn't for the life of her remember. Something that, she was more sure after each agonising second, she didn't want to remember.

Eyes watering, she looked up to see she wasn't alone in her plight. Dogma's knuckles were white from pressing his fingers against his temples, his eyes wider than Cody had ever seen them.

She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, the graveyard flashed by her eyes, the bleeding stump of the cut-down tree more vivid than her immediate surroundings. A blink, and the broken statue of the Goddess lay in pieces at her feet, mute and helpless. Another blink, and there was the woman, the monster, — no, the woman, sitting unmoving on the tree branch as it caught fire, her eyes filled with such sorrow, and such hatred...her voice so soft as she spoke their names...

The door slammed open, and Cody's heart skipped a beat. Her shop materialised around her once more, with nothing amiss.

Likewise startled, Dogma had taken one instinctive step to stand between her and the door. He now blinked.

"Russell?" The horror on his face was gone, replaced by general anxiousness. "What's the matter? Did something happen?"

Cody peeked from behind Dogma's back. Russell stood leaning into the doorway, breathing shallowly. He was pale as a ghost. There was a nameless terror in his eyes, but as Cody looked on, it quickly faded, leaving behind Russell's usual impassive look.

"I'm fine," he said.

"You don't look fine," Cody protested, stepping to Dogma's side. Come to think of it, Russell had had a sickly air as early as that morning. "What happened?"

"I..." Russell's eyes flittered around the room, his gaze briefly resting on the bundle of fresh herbs. "I think I saw the monster earlier."

As Cody turned to share a look of alarm with her brother, Russell continued: "I probably just imagined it. Yumi's looking into it."

"W-well..." Cody forced herself to relax for Russell's sake. Real or illusory, there was nothing they could do about the monster right there and then. "If you think you're seeing things, you really should sleep."

"Yes, absolutely," Dogma added, nodding. "And make sure to lock your door. If anything happens, you can come to the church."

"Y-you can come here too!" Cody offered hastily. Russell's house was nearly on the opposite side of the town to the church; a scary journey to make in the dark with a monster around. "Especially if you don't feel safe staying outside for..." Her words petered out as she realised they were falling on deaf ears. A bit miffed, she tried to figure out why Russell was staring at her brother so intently.

"Won't you be locking you door?" Russell asked, his voice inflectionless. Any traces of emotion from when he had burst inside were long gone.

"Oh." Dogma hesitated. "I will, but you can knock on it. The sound echoes to the furthest corners of the church, so I'll be sure to hear it... as I discovered when Dr. Kantera suffered from a bout of sleepwalking and mistook my house for his at three in the morning." He straightened himself. "But yes, you're welcome even at that hour."

Russell seemed to consider this for a while. Then, his gaze dropped, and he slowly shook his head from side to side.

"A lock won't save you from fire," he murmured in an undertone.

Cody sought out Dogma's glance, and they exchanged a meaningful look. Russell was a very nice boy, but he could be a bit strange at times.

"What do you mean, Russell?" Cody asked, trying to keep her voice calm.

Russell turned to meet Cody's eyes. His expression remained unchanged, seemingly unconcerned, but with a haunted air that gave Cody goosebumps. "Someone could set the church on fire."

Cody turned once again to stare at Dogma, then together, they stared at Russell. Baffled, she asked: "Who would set a church on fire?"

Russell said nothing. Then, slowly, he looked up. "A monster."

"Russell." Dogma's voice was a shade deeper than his usual, but Cody could hear a trill of fear in it regardless. "You're clearly exhausted. You should go back home and sleep right now."

Cody nodded, speechless. Yes, he was exhausted. Probably dreaming while standing up to say such strange things. She could safely ignore the unease his words had rekindled in her, even if the sudden tension on her head didn't seem to agree.

Russell gave them each a long look. He opened his mouth, clearly to say something, then changed his mind. With a nod, he escaped from Cody's house and into the darkness waiting outside.

"Well." Dogma grimaced after Russell shut the door behind him. "I hope he goes to see Dr. Kantera in the morning. Perhaps I should bring it up with him if he doesn't decide on it by himself."

"Yeah..." Something didn't feel right. At first, Cody thought it was merely concern for Russell, but the more she lingered on it, the more convinced she was there was more to it.

What had they been talking about when Russell had stumbled in? She had had a revelation of sorts, Cody felt, or at least found some kind of a key to a long-standing mystery. What remained, however, was nothing, not even a memory.

"Oh, that's right," she said, finally recalling the last topic at hand from before. "I asked Gardenia for advice on cooking. She said I should just relax and keep trying."

"That sounds like solid advice." Dogma nodded solemnly. "I'm sure you will succeed as long as you apply yourself."

"I hope so." Cody tried to smile. It must have been nothing, then, even if her body stubbornly refused to relax.

Dogma said nothing for a while, then frowned. He usually frowned, but from the heavy creases between his eyes, Cody knew he was in unusually deep thought.

"Was there..." he began, very slowly, then violently shook his head. "No. It's fine. I'm always wrong when it comes to things like this."

Cody stared. "What?"

"I...I'm not sure how to phrase it." His brow furrowed again. "I feel like I'm forgetting something vital."

Cody's mouth felt dry. It wasn't just her imagination, then. Something had happened before, something neither of them could remember. Something very important...

She shuddered.

"Brother... I'm scared." It felt funny admitting it to anyone, even Dogma, but she kept going. "I don't understand what's going on anymore, with the monster, and now Russell acting all strange, and..." there it was, at the tip of her tongue, but again it eluded her. Her sight blurred, and she looked down. "It's like...the world is going mad...and I don't know what to do."

"Cody." When she looked up, there was a weird glint in Dogma's eyes, almost like pity.

"You too should rest," he continued. His voice was very quiet, like the kind of tone one might use by a sickbed. "It's been a long week."

Cody had no answer to that but a glower. It had been a long week, that was true, but surely Dogma wasn't trying to dismiss her fears as mere fatigue? How did exhaustion explain the strange stains everywhere, or the destruction of Darcover Town, or the increasing number of monsters everywhere...

Dogma cleared his throat. "Well, putting that aside... I can't honestly say your concern is unfounded. It does seem there's something dangerous afoot, beyond the monster. However..." He placed his hand on his chest. "I swear on my name, if it's in my power, I will do anything to keep you from harm."

Cody nodded, feeling her face relax on its own. "Thank you." He meant what he said, she knew, and protesting would only make him dig his heels in. Perhaps she shouldn't have been so glad about it, but the notion of a reliable older brother did comfort her, though not as much as it usually did.

"Moreover," Dogma's features softened, but there was no doubting the fire of conviction in his eyes, "whatever it is, it'll be fine as long as you keep your faith. The Lord will protect us. I'm certain of that."

"Yeah." Cody took a deep breath. "Thanks. I feel better now." Lying was a sin, wasn't it? It felt less like a sin than troubling Dogma further now that he finally appeared somewhat peaceful again.

Either way, as he remained calm, she seemed to have fooled him. "I'm glad to hear that." He turned to leave. "Stay safe."

Cody clicked the lock shut after him, then leaned against the door, seeking comfort from its steady surface. All of a sudden, her peaceful house felt too still.

She was safe, she kept telling herself. She could go to bed and wake up to see sunshine the following morning. The locked door would keep any monsters at bay. The weirdness that had passed actually was just because of exhaustion, and nothing fundamentally wrong with the world. There would be nothing bad waiting for her, no nightmares, nothing. Absolutely no fire, either.

Again, her fingers had found their way to her cross. She fidgeted with it for a while, finding some solace in the familiar feeling of the smooth, polished metal under her fingers.

_"The Lord will protect us."_

If only she could be as sure.


End file.
